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San Francisco may be pretty, but it can definitely drain your
pocketbook. Still, in a city where apartment rents average over
$2,000 per month, some lucky people have found below-market office
rates in one of its hottest high-tech districts. A warehouse in the
South of Market (SoMa) area will soon become the site of a novel
project that may offer businesses lower rents in exchange for job
training for its low-income residents. Tenderloin Neighborhood
Development Corp. and Citizens Housing Corp. have planned a
five-story building that combines 18,000 square feet of commercial
space, 4,000 feet of child-care space and 162 affordable housing
units.

"We've specifically thought high-tech companies or
Internet companies might be ideal candidates because there's
such a need for the space from their point of view," explains
Chris Mohr, community relations manager at Tenderloin Neighborhood
Development.

If you want to get in on this deal, you'll have to move
quickly. Although the space won't be available until 2002,
several firms have already lined up. To have a better shot at one
of the open slots, says Citizens Housing project manager Scott
Falcone, a company should have job-training experience and a
corporate culture that meshes with the program. Even if you miss
this opportunity, there'll be more to come. As Tenderloin and
Citizens Housing plan another project for mid-2002, Local
Initiatives Support Corp. program officer Rick Jacobus is noting
more developments of this type.

"It's sort of cutting-edge," Jacobus says.
"They're going to build this housing, and they want to
have offices on the ground floor because that's what's best
for their neighborhood. They're leading a trend that's
happening across the country."